Those U.S. Stealth Jets Haven’t Actually Flown Near North Korea Yet

An F-22 Raptor prepares to go to South Korea, July 2010. Photo: U.S. Air Force

As North Korea ratchets up its apocalyptic rhetoric, the U.S. military has sent advanced warplanes to a big training exercise with South Korea, including its premier stealth fighter, the F-22 Raptor. Only the Pentagon clarified today that the jets haven’t actually flown yet.

Two F-22 Raptors are on “static display” at the Osan air base south of Seoul, Pentagon spokesman George Little said. Outside of the flight on Sunday from Japan’s Kadena air base, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, the jets have yet to take part in the U.S.-South Korea exercise Foal Eagle, which will continue until the end of April.

The Raptors were previously scheduled to join the exercise, Little said, but their presence on the Korean Peninsula comes as North Korea has acted increasingly erratically since its latest nuclear detonation. An official statement over the weekend threatened a “do-or-die battle” with the United States, following the release of a photograph seeming to show Pyongyang’s leadership targeting the continental U.S. with long-range ballistic missiles it does not possess.

Still, the F-22 deployment for Foal Eagle comes after B-2 and B-52 bombers also flew over the Korean peninsula as part of the exercise, and after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel added 14 missile interceptors to Alaska to blunt Pyongyang’s threats. In the event of an actual conflict on the Korean peninsula, the stealthy F-22s could escort the bombers or open fire on the North’s air defense stations. Check out this Aviatonist post for a good overview of what the F-22s could provide in what would amount to its combat debut. But it’s worth remembering that the current deployment is the F-22’s fourth trip to South Korea.

Little said the F-22 deployment was “all about alliance assurance” to South Korea and Japan, showing that the U.S. has their backs.

“The North Koreans have a choice,” he said. “They can continue to engage in provocations, with bellicose, overheated, irresponsible rhetoric, or they can pursue the path of peace. They’ve been pursuing the path of provocation, and we think it’s time for them to switch lanes.”

Little declined to say when the F-22s might get into the air as part of the Foal Eagle exercise — and he didn’t rule out sending additional advanced hardware to the Korean peninsula in the coming weeks.